by Andy Holland
John walked across the gap between the tents and disappeared. Moments later his head poked out of the tent, shaking his head, pointing Natan to move to the next tent. Natan waited for a moment, before walking quickly from his tent to the next. As with the previous one, it was empty. After two more tents, Natan became frustrated.
"They're all empty!" He mouthed silently to John. "Where are they all?"
John shrugged helplessly. The tents were in use, but the inhabitants were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly Natan raised his finger to his mouth and backed off into the tent, pointing to his left. John moved back as well, unsure whether to hide properly or not. He bent low and tried to peer around the corner to see who was coming and saw a single girl walking towards them, eyes towards the ground. She walked past Natan without noticing him and would have passed John as well, had she not found herself flying through the air as Natan tackled her, bundling her through the entrance to the tent that John was hiding in. John narrowly dodged the couple as they careered through the entrance, crashing onto the beds and scattering the inhabitants’ belongings over the floor. Natan landed wrapped around the girl, his hand tightly over her mouth and nose, his legs trapping hers and his other arm around his body.
"Got her!" he declared proudly.
The girl was turning bright red, clearly unable to breathe.
"Release her!" John cried. "You're suffocating her!"
Natan dropped her as if she was poisonous and the girl rolled away from him, gasping for air. John moved quickly to kneel beside her and he put his hand on her shoulder. She tried to roll away but he gripped her firmly.
"Take deep breaths," he told her. "I apologise for my friend, but he means well. I am not here to harm you, or take advantage of you. I am here to help you. Nod if you understand."
She looked up at him, suspicion written all over her face, breathing heavily to try and catch her breath. She was pale with dark hair and her eyes narrowed as she gazed up at him.
John realised that he wasn't convincing her. He bent his head lower to draw attention to his hair. "Look at my hair; I am not a Blue Dragon. Why would any dragon be here other than a Blue Dragon?"
He moved closer to her, looking her straight in the eye, but she still didn't reply. "We're here for one reason only: to protect you, and you will need that today. Please nod if you understand me."
She glared at him, but after a long pause, finally nodded.
John breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you hurt? Can you sit up?"
Her face softened a little and she nodded before sitting up.
"Good, you're not a Dark Brown Dragon, are you? Are you a Wasp Dragon?"
She nodded, still eying him suspiciously.
"I thought so. I met one of your country folk yesterday. I stole her from the camp in the woods, the one you were in yesterday, and took her out of this land before coming back here. She'll probably be on her way home now. Would you like to join her?"
She looked at him questioningly and shrugged before nodding. John nodded too. "Good, then I need your help. There's an army on its way here, one large enough to kill all of these guards. But you've seen this camp. It's not hidden like the last one and just as anyone can see the camp from a long way away, people in the camp can see dragons approaching from a long way away. As soon as they see that army arriving, what do you think they'll do? What will they do if they think that they're going to be defeated and that they won't be able to keep you here any longer?"
She looked down for a moment, before looking at him again with wide eyes. "They're going to kill us all."
John nodded. "That's what they'll try to do, yes. That's why we're here ahead of the others, to try and stop them. But we need your help. If you don't do as I ask, we can't protect you."
She looked at John and Natan scornfully, sneering at him. "What could you and this other boy do? You will get us all killed."
John shook his head. "The army is approaching, as is your death unless we can protect you. There are no other choices for you. Either work with me, or die. Even if you don’t trust me, what choice do you have? Besides, we are not alone."
She shook her head, regarding him bitterly. "Tell me, boy, what do you want me to do?"
John sighed. "It's simple. I need everyone in this camp ready for the alarm call when it comes. I need you to spread the word and keep it simple. Tell them this: there's an army coming to rescue everyone, but when the Blue Dragons see them approaching they will try to kill you all, and safety can only be found in the middle of the camp under the protection of the very large dragons." John shrugged. "Can you spread that message?"
The girl regarded him suspiciously. "Very large dragons? How large? What are you, boy? How did you sneak in if you're so large?"
John smiled and shook his head, before reaching for her hand to help her up. "You will see what we are, don't worry about that. Now, just spread the message and do it quickly. We will not act until the alarm sounds, but when we do, you will know it is us as we will appear from this tent and you mustn't be afraid of us. We will guard you. Understand?"
She nodded and walked towards the tent entrance. "Wait!" John commanded. "I need to move to another tent. We can't both transform in here. Can you check that it is clear outside?"
She shrugged again and nodded before cautiously leaving the tent. "It's clear," she said after a moment.
John poked his head out and then hurried towards the tent that Natan had been hiding in. He turned to face her. "Thank you. Now quickly, tell everyone."
The girl nodded, but walked calmly away rather than hurrying. John frowned and retreated inside the tent, lying down in the entrance to wait for the alarm. He wasn't sure how long he would have to wait, but he hoped it would be when the Browns arrived. Unfortunately, Natan didn't share his patience.
"John!" he hissed quietly.
John looked up to see him lying in the entrance of the other tent, leaning on his elbows. "What?" he mouthed.
"What are you doing over there?" he asked.
John frowned at him. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm waiting."
Natan nodded, silent for a moment before replying, "So, how long do you think we'll have to wait?"
John glared at him in frustration. "I don't know! Just wait, will you? Quietly. And concentrate on the task ahead of us."
Natan nodded and began looking around at the other tents, clearly a little bored. John relaxed, hoping that he would stop bothering him.
"John!" he hissed again.
John glared at him. "Keep your voice down," he mouthed.
"Alright," Natan whispered back. "Hey, John, that girl, what did you think?"
John looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Natan shrugged. "She—she was pretty attractive, don't you think?"
John stared at him open mouthed in disbelief. "What's wrong with you?"
Natan nodded. "I've never seen a Wasp Dragon before. But I guess she didn't really seem to like you, did she?"
"Will you just shut up and wait quietly," John whispered.
"What was that?" Natan asked. "It's hard to lip read when you talk quickly."
"Shut up!"
Natan shrugged. "Do you think she liked me?" He clearly had forgotten that he had almost suffocated her and was clearly not thinking about why there were there but was reminded seconds later. A loud bell sounded continuously from the centre of the camp, which could only be an alarm.
John looked to the sky, trying to see if he could see any of the raiders. "Can you see them coming?" he asked, realising that his tent was facing the wrong way.
Natan frowned and shook his head.
"Never mind. We don't have a choice, the plan is set," John told him confidently. "Transform now. I'll head towards the first enclosure we went in, you head towards the middle ahead of me. And try not to step on any prisoners."
John retreated into the tent and began the transformation. His eyes flashed to the dark green of the Teradon and scales began to form ove
r his head and body. He dropped to all fours, urging the transformation to happen as quickly as possible. He began to grow, his neck extending, snaking away from his body. He turned his neck, trying to stay within the tent as long as possible to remain hidden until the transformation was complete. He watched as his tail emerged, a simple reptilian tip at first, but it slowly evolved into the fearsome weapon that it was. His legs changed into the mighty pillars that would support his growing bulk and although he had bent them to stay low, he found that he now filled the whole tent and was beginning to rip the fabric. He stood up as he grew, tearing the tent apart, before lifting his head off the ground as he enlarged to reach his full size, towering over the tents. Just opposite him, Natan's tent was bulging and moments later he stood facing John, two leviathans that towered over the enclosure.
John turned and carefully placing his feet to avoid crushing the tents, walked towards the south-east edge of the enclosure. He walked straight through the fence as if it wasn't there, trampling and crushing it as he approached the first enclosure, continuing to charge through the fence and rip a large gap in the north-east corner of the enclosure.
John realised that the alarm had not been sounded to alert the camp to the arrival of the army. In the distance, he could see two other giant dragons with Blue Dragons flying around them. Two of the others must have been forced to transform early and were the focus of the Blue Dragons' attention. Now the Blue Dragons were aware of his presence as well. Guards streamed out of tents between the two enclosures and began to transform. John didn't wait for them to be ready and moved quickly towards the tent, flooding it with a powerful stream of fire, ignoring the tortured screams that the partially transformed Blue Dragons emitted. He wasn't sure if this was breaching their laws, as he hadn't actually been attacked yet and he couldn't see if the others had been either, but he no longer cared, as waiting would almost certainly lead to the deaths of these girls. Natan followed his lead, lowering his head to the ground and flooding a guard tent with deadly flames.
John felt fireballs strike his neck, a gentle warmth that barely penetrated his thick scales. Blue Dragons were already in the air and were beginning to attack him. He snapped at one as it flew past, catching it's body in his jaws, his teeth biting deep into the dragon's chest and crushing it's rib cage. He flung it away casually and turned to face the rest of the flying dragons. There were hundreds in the air already. He roared and the sound carried across the whole camp and even drowned out the sound of the alarm bell. Seven other dragons up and down the camp echoed his mighty roar, the sound deafening and terrifying every person in the camp. The Blue Dragons used their piercing shrieks to strike fear into their enemies; now they knew what he felt like. Still, it did not stop them attacking him. They were swarming around him like gnats, trying to tear at him with their ineffective claws, but doing little more than irritating him. John lifted his tail and swatted at them, knocking several out of the air and impaling one on the spikes on the tip. The Blue Dragons were fast and agile, while his body was slow and cumbersome, but their teeth and claws could do little more than scratch his thick scales and their fire did even less, while every contact he made with them was likely to be fatal.
The prisoners still did not move, watching him in terror, having never seen anything nearly as large as he was now. John lifted his feet and carefully walked further into the enclosure, avoiding all of the tents and roaring again before snatching another Blue Dragon from the air and crushing the life out of it. He gazed down at the prisoners and looked one directly in the eye, who held his gaze, frozen to the spot. He shook his head, gesturing towards the torn fence. The girl nodded, finally having understood the message and shouted out to the other prisoners around her before beginning to run towards the gap in the fence. He was relieved to see that most of them had already moved to tents in the north-east corner, ready to escape the enclosure.
He lifted his head again and watched the Blue Dragons that were circling above him, trying to work out how to attack him after watching him destroy so many of their comrades. He roared at them again defiantly before taking a step towards the torn fence, carefully avoiding the fleeing girls. The enclosures were large and moving to the centre was going to take some time and the Blue Dragons were not going to make it easy. John moved back to the edge of the enclosure and enlarged the hole that he had created to allow the girls to escape more quickly. One of the Blue Dragons shrieked in rage, the piercing call causing him to shiver, and then it dived towards the prisoners, sending a fireball at a group of girls as they ran towards the fence. They screamed as the fire struck the fence but before it could send a second fireball Natan snapped his teeth around the creature's neck and head and swung his neck, flinging the corpse at the dragons in the air.
Nice work, John called encouragingly, but Natan didn't reply, distracted by the many Blues that were flying around him. They continuously swiped at his neck and body, trying to find a weak spot and dodging his snapping jaws. John roared again in warning to the Blues, hoping to keep them away as the girls ran between his legs and through the gap in the fence. There were so many prisoners and they were running as quickly as they could, but couldn't get through the fence fast enough. He bent down and seized the fence in his jaws, ripping the thing from the ground and giving the prisoners enough room to escape. Most of them had moved out of the enclosure into the open area, running between the ten separate enclosures and hurrying towards the centre. John stepped carefully, staying behind to avoid treading on them. Natan had moved ahead, also walking slowly, struggling to place his feet in between the crowds running between his legs. The Blue Dragons were still concentrating their attacks on them rather than the prisoners, who were, after all running into the centre of the prison camp rather than out of it.
Natan, John called over to him. Move to the side, out of the way. Let them get past you.
Yeah, sure, Natan replied irritably, dodging one of the flying blues. These things are annoying. The Blue Dragons were concentrating on him, rightly judging that he was less experienced.
Use your tail, John suggested. Natan flicked his tail inexpertly, managing to miss every dragon when it appeared impossible not to hit one. He lifted his front leg and swiped at one, missing again. He only narrowly missed a group of girls beneath as he put his foot down.
John didn't dodge the dragons’ attacks at all, aware that that there was very little they could do to him. Each time one approached his head he snapped at them, more often than not successfully, throwing corpse after corpse back at his attackers. They were quickly learning to try and keep their distance from his head, although being attached to a long and flexible neck proved difficult. Wherever they attacked him on his body he could reach them with either his head or tail, and the pile of dead dragons around him was mounting up. Indeed, so far the main danger to the girls was from falling bodies.
Natan was still having far less luck, although he was starting to realise that they couldn't do much to him. As a Blue Dragon buzzed around his head, he reared up into his hind legs and brought his two front feet together quickly, catching it between his terrible, clawed feet. The mangled remains of the Blue Dragon slipped from his feet and he dropped his feet back to the ground, landing heavily and coming close to squashing a large group of girls, who miraculously managed to avoid his feet.
Got it! he declared triumphantly.
Move out of the way! John snapped. You almost killed about twenty people with your feet!
I knew where I was putting them, Natan responded irritably. I didn't tread on anyone.
John walked forwards, staying to the right of the moving crowd. Move to the left a bit more. We're meant to be shielding these girls; that means keeping them between us.
But they're not trying to attack them, Natan objected. They're just going after me!
Why should they bother attacking the girls? You seem to do that for them. Stop arguing and just move.
Natan let forth a stream of fire at two Blue Dragons that were s
wooping at his head. They disappeared into the flames and when they reappeared they were alive but completely disorientated, dropping limply from the sky, one landing heavily by Natan’s feet, which he promptly used to tread it into the ground.
Fire works well, Natan observed.
What a surprise, John replied sarcastically. Did you even see how close the other came to crashing into the girls? You're lucky it managed to break out of the fall, or you'd have killed a lot of people. Please just move to the side!
Natan shook his head, but finally moved to the left, out of the path of the girls, who were still running towards the centre, where a large number of the prisoners had already gathered. He reared onto his rear legs again and snapped his jaws high in the air, catching the wings of two dragons that were flying close together, before shaking his head like a dog with a rat, tearing them to pieces.
John could see that two of the other Teradons were in the centre of the camp, either side of the growing crowd of prisoners, who the Blue Dragons were yet to pay attention to, focussing their attacks on the eight giant Teradons.
Natan was still the main target for the Blue Dragons at their end of the camp, with none willing to venture near John. Had he faced any real threat, John would have lent him some assistance, but for now he was happy for them to be distracted from the movement of the prisoners. Natan was starting to get the hang of using his tail as a weapon and was felling the Blues at an impressive rate, so probably didn't need any assistance anyway.
Is that you, John? Dinah asked. Before he could answer she sent a torrent of flames high into the air and singed the wings of a group of Blues that had flown too close.
Hi, Dinah, John replied. What started the alarm?
That was me, unfortunately. It couldn't be helped; they were searching the tents for something and there was nowhere to hide. How are things at your end?
So far so good. We lost a couple of the girls at the start when one of the Blue Dragons decided to attack the prisoners, but they've switched their attention to us—or rather to Natan. What about you?